Peter van Dongen

(b. 21 October 1966, The Netherlands)

Peter van Dongen graduated as advertising artist from the Grafische School in Amsterdam. He published his first comics in amateur and alternative magazines like Rebel Comix and Balloen. In 1990 his debut, 'Muizentheater', a gripping tale of two working class lads growing up in Amsterdam during the Depression years, was published. A nice feature of 'Muizentheater' is that it is one of the very few books about Amsterdam that does not feature any canals - van Dongen hates clichés. In 1991, 'Muizentheater' earned Van Dongen the Dutch Stripschapprijs for the Best Comic Book of the Year.

Van Dongen contined to work as a commercial illustrator in the 1990s and it took almost a decade before van Dongen published a new book. This new book, 'Rampokan-Java', a tale about the independence struggle in the former Dutch colony of Indonesia (the land of Van Dongen's ancestors), was even better received than his debut. The story was told in a stunning clear line style with sepia coloring - the echo of Hergé's colonial classic 'Tintin in Africa' was constantly there in the background. 'Rampokan' was co-designed by Joost Swarte and earned both author and publisher the 1999 Dutch Prize for Best Book Design. In 2004, the second part, 'Rampokan Celebes', appeared. In 2005, he organized a series of expositions with artwork by Indoneasian artists like Tita and Anto Motulz, held on several locations in Java.